Well hello there my most wonderful family!
Not much time today because we didn't even get to our pday free time until after 3:30 and then by the time we finally got to the church where we were going to email, the basketball players of the zone were already waiting on me and my companion. I just couldn't let them down. ;) So I played 3 games to 11 before emailing president and now you guys!
We have had quite the eventful day! Shopping, haircuts, and even somebody pulling over and waving us down in an effort to politely engage us in a bash. Why do I say polite bash? I only say polite because he really didn't have any grounds to disagree with us because I got him to explain his opinion first and then I was able to give a nice peaceable answer to his "question" that established common grounds. So that was fun. It turned out to be a somewhat decent conversation as well. We even gave him a few scriptures to look up and invited him to give us a call if he was ever interested in having us come by for a visit. Then, we also had our bus break down (that was a bummer and a waste of a good chunk of time...but on the bright side we got a "stuck with us" opportunity to talk with some people. So even that was fun!)
Wow mom, you are a super hero mom! This reminds me of the heroics you performed in order to get me a good apartment the first time I went off to school. You are amazing! Most definitely a super hero mom. Yea...that's probably the perfect description. I just remembered another last minute miracle you pulled off for me back when I was getting ready to leave the MTC and I thought it would be a good idea to mention to you in my email some things I needed before leaving the MTC. And then there was that other time where you basically overnighted me a camera when I mentioned that the one I came out to the mission with had died .....hmmm yea....maybe i shouldn't mention that one again until I send you some pictures....so I'll just finish up by saying I love you so much and that I'm glad it's my mom on the job of finding my apartment miracle in Provo! if it was anyone else then I would probably be worried. And yes, I could probably manage to throw in a few prayers for you ;) love you! thanks mom!
This past week was FULL of cancelled appointments. Probably the most I have had my entire mission. But somehow even in all the failed appointments, we still had a pretty decent week! So that was good! It was just a crazy crazy week! It was to the point that when one of our awesome part member families we are working with called me Sunday morning my first thought was, "oh dang... Here it goes again...slap on the happy voice Elder Ostler." But then she said, "Hey Elder! Uhhh well, I was just calling to tell you that I'm gonna be in church today. Yea...I'm not canceling. I'm just telling you I will be there....I probably tricked you huh? You probably thought I was calling to cancel." I know it might be weird that I would find that funny, and maybe even more weird that I would deem it worthy to put in the letter, but to me it was great. It was probably just funny to me though due to all the other cancelled appointments we had all week long.
Random update on my life (aka other excuse why the letter will be even shorter)... Just got off the phone with someone we are working with. It took up some time. So now I'm even more focused on making sure I can get something quick off to you guys.
But even in all the cancellations this week we had some awesome teaching experiences! Our new investigator that I told you guys about last week that wanted to be baptized in June instead of July is looking like she might have it her way after all! She is amazing! She is absolutely tearing through the Book of Mormon! I love having her explain to us what she is learning. In fact, I think that is part of the reason it is such a blessing to be one of her missionaries. She is so open and willing to just talk with us that most of the teaching actually happens from her mouth as we ask her questions. And she ALWAYS completes with the commitments we give her to prepare for our next visit. So that always helps too. We gave her the plan of salvation handout pamphlet and asked her to look it over before we taught it to her. By the time we "taught" her the plan of salvation, she already knew the whole thing! It was AWESOME!
Oh! Here is a fun story! In ward counsel on Sunday, right after I gave the report on how our area of the ward is doing, Bishop pointed at me and said, "I need to talk with you right after this meeting. It's important. Don't forget and walk out on me before I get the chance to talk with you." Well, at this point my mind started wandering..."hmmm what have I done this past week? Anything that warrants a soft reprimand from a concerned bishop? I wonder what I could have done!?! I couldn't think of anything other than two things. One: maybe one of the members we took out with us to what turned out to be cancelled appointments asked bishop to speak with us about planning better before bothering members (i felt really bad for the time of our members that was wasted Even after confirming our appointments that we needed members to help us with). Two: our ride to church for one of our investigators fell through Sunday morning and I was worried that maybe in all the somewhat last minute phone calls I made searching for a ride to church for this investigator, I had put someone in an uncomfortable position and that maybe they had complained to bishop. So I was braced to have to take the heat for something I may have done unintentionally. As it turned out, bishop simply wanted to assign me to speak on Father's Day! My first thought when he gave me the topic and explained what he would like me to do in the talk was,"well, it's a good thing I got some good dad stories to tell because something tells me that the whole we-did-not-doubt-for-our-mothers-knew-it Stripling warriors story probably isn't going to cut it for this one." So I guess the good news is that I must not be making too much havoc in English wards after all! But the real reason I even mentioned this is because ever since I received the talk, I have Been doing some fun reminiscing/deep thinking on how wonderful my good ole dad is. Love you dad!
Well,
That's all I got time for. I actually am finishing typing this up at a bus stop on my way back to my area so you probably won't get this until tomorrow when I grab some Internet early in the morning during work out time (we have wifi down in the club house workout center of the apartment complex we live at).
Love you all!
Yours truly,
Elder Ostler
